Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent young people spending excessively on loot boxes in computer games.

We are aware of concerns about the potential for excessive spending in games, particularly by young people. These concerns, and particularly those regarding the availability of loot boxes, are discussed in the recent DCMS Select Committee report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies. We are currently considering the Report and its recommendations and will respond in due course.

We do not currently have an estimate of the amount spent by people under 18 on in-app or in-game purchases over the last 5 years. However, we note that the Gambling Commission’s new research on Children and Young People found that of the 11-16 year olds taking part in their survey, 52% had heard of the availability of in-game items and of these 44% had paid money to open loot boxes.

We encourage parents concerned about in-game spending by their children to consider using the parental controls available on devices to disable this function.